U.S. stock futures point to modest opening rise

Merck and D.R. Horton among those offering better-than-expected results

KateGibson

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures pointed to a mildly higher start on Tuesday as a few companies, including drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. and homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc., offered earnings that topped market expectations.

U.S. stock indexes closed mixed on Monday, with the Dow industrials finishing 64 points in the red, the S&P 500 basically unchanged and the Nasdaq Composite advancing 18 points.

Nerves over the still-to-be-released "bad bank" plan and Friday's looming U.S. employment report kept the lid on investor sentiment.

Pending home sales data for December is due at 10 a.m. Eastern, with carmakers reporting January vehicles sales during the trading day. U.S. auto sales are expected to fall with Ford
F, -1.26%
and General Motors
GM, -2.45%
sales possibly down over 40%.

Also due on Tuesday is the housing vacancy report from the Census Bureau. "This survey measures the percentage of homes that are currently vacant, and in our view provides the cleanest measure of the amount of excess housing supply," said economists from Goldman Sachs.

For the last several quarters, the vacancy rate has hovered around 2.7%, substantially higher than the 1.7% average over the 20 years before the housing bubble, they noted.

Oil futures were holding at just above $40 a barrel, while gold futures were trading around $909 an ounce.

The dollar edged up 0.2% on the Japanese yen.

On the earnings front, shares of Merck & Co.
MRK, -1.87%
rose 4.5% after the pharmaceutical giant said it returned to profitability in the fourth quarter.

Macy's Inc.
M, +1.38%
dropped around 6% as the department store chain said it would cut 7,000 jobs and cutting its dividend by 62%.

BP plc
BP, -1.85%
dropped in London after reporting a $3.3 billion fourth-quarter loss and flagging up a higher tax rate for 2009.

Vodafone Group plc
VOD, -0.77%
advanced in London after upping its revenue guidance due to the weakness of the British pound.

Overseas, the Bank of Japan said it was buying up to 1 trillion yen ($111.5 billion) of shares held by financial institutions. Still, that wasn't enough to lift the Nikkei 225, as the Tokyo index fell 0.6%.

Australian stocks rose for the fifth time in sixth sessions after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates, while the FTSE 100 was trading a touch higher in London action.

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